Eye surgeries and their acronyms

Present now, there are so many people being annoyed with types of vision problems in the world. The most common visual defects include myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and cataracts. These problems are affecting a large population now. In the United States alone, over 50 million citizens are involved. Among different solutions to these visual defects, surgery is one that is gaining popularity. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people will resort to some kinds of eye surgeries for vision correction.

There are quite a few sorts of eye surgeries, including LASIK, LASEK, and PRK and so on. Which one should be chosen actually depends on several factors. In general, different people need different kinds of surgery. Both the severity of vision problem and medical conditions should be taken into account. There is no “best” eye surgery applicable for everyone.

Patients should have a detailed consultation with the surgeon about which surgery is suitable. A comprehensive eye exam is needed before making a decision. Although LASIK is the most popular one currently, it is not suitable for everyone. Patients need to do more homework about the knowledge of these surgeries as well as the target surgeon. Most surgeons can only perform one type or certain types of eye surgeries.

Another factor should also be aware during the consultation with a surgeon or self-study of different eye surgeries. Almost all kinds of eye surgeries have their own abbreviations and acronyms. Many patients may get confused by these acronyms. Similar acronyms always do not represent the same problems. For instance, LASIK and LASEK are two different surgeries. LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and LASEK represents Laser-Assisted Sub-epithelial Keratectomy. There are other acronyms in the realm of corrective vision surgery. PRK is short for Photo Refractive Keratectomy. And ICL means Implantable Contact lenses.